During the years 2007-2018 while working for publications like Fantastic Man, Purple,Apartamento, and PIN-UP, Daniel Trese photographed the city of Los Angeles documenting its coming of age art scene, unique urban landscape, iconic fashion personalities, and current queer culture. Almost entirely shot on film, Surface Streets is apoetic tribute to a decentralized city that has recently attracted a new breed of creatives excited by LA’s cultural future and up-for-grabs identity.

Trese pieces together his own version of this eclectic community with portraits of Peggy Moffitt, Don Bachardy, A.L. Steiner, Ashland Mines, Karis Wilde, Joel Gibb, Sean Delear, and Mariah Garnett, to name a few, immersed in the physical city itself with its sprawling strip malls, agave plants, and massive boulevards. Surface Streets is an ode to a city still becoming itself and a celebration of the ambiguous time before identity sets in.

About Daniel Trese:

Daniel Trese is an American photographer who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His work has been consistently a part of independent publishing for the past 10 years. Originally from Los Angeles, Daniel ​studied Art History and worked as a fine art printer prior ​to starting his own studio in 2009. Since then, his photographs have appeared in Harpers Bazar, Vogue Homme, The New York Times, Surface, Wallpaper, The Plant, Die Zeit, The Travel Almanac, among others and several group shows internationally.